Police detain 600 India activists in Kashmir

Authorities detain more than 600 people in a crackdown on pro-independence activists ahead of general elections in the Indian-administered Kashmir.

This comes as authorities in the Muslim-majority region have stepped up their crackdown on pro-independence activists ahead of voting in general elections.

Indian forces described those arrested as “stone pelters and trouble mongers.” Indian authorities said the arrests are part of an effort to prevent any anti-India protests or violence during voting on Wednesday.

The developments come as prominent pro-independence leader Syed Ali Geelani and several other Kashmiri activists in Kashmir have launched a boycott campaign against India’s national elections.

“Environment of fear and panic among the common people … so that people will get terrified and be forced to participate in this election drama,” Geelani said in a statement, adding “the raids and arrests make the election merely a military operation and a one-sided game.”

Pro-independence activists in Kashmir say holding the vote in the region is aimed at deceiving the international community regarding the Kashmir dispute, and denying Kashmiris the right to self-rule. They are protesting what they call the Indian occupation of Kashmir.

Authorities have deployed police and paramilitary troops in most parts of the region’s capital Srinagar to prevent fresh street demonstrations.

Kashmir lies at the heart of more than 66 years of hostility between India and Pakistan. Both neighbors claim the region in full but have partial control over it.

Thousands of Kashmiris have been killed in an uprising and a subsequent Indian military crackdown since 1989.